A civil war is breaking out in the Democrat Party during this primary season.
Socialists are trying to shape the direction of the party.
Now Obama's right hand man has something to say about it – and Democrats are going to hate it.
Rahm Emanuel Spent Months Warning Democrats About Exactly This
Rahm Emanuel spent the first half of 2026 doing something unusual for a Democrat: telling the truth about his party.
The former Obama White House chief of staff and Chicago mayor traveled to Mississippi, New Hampshire, Michigan, and Wisconsin – the kinds of states Democrats need to win and have been losing – pitching what he called a return to basics.
Democrats won historic majorities in 2006 and 2008, he said, by picking off Republican seats – not by turning safe blue districts into socialist strongholds.
"I spent my life turning red districts blue," he told CNN after last week's results. "The way you create a majority is moving red areas to blue, not blue areas to cobalt blue or to midnight blue. And that's all that happens."
Democrats "lost the plot," he said on another occasion, adding that the party "got unanchored."
Fifty percent of American kids failing to read at grade level was unacceptable.
On Megyn Kelly's podcast, he said what used to be common sense, a man cannot become a woman.
Democrats responded by treating him like a traitor.
How Zohran Mamdani Just Humiliated Hakeem Jeffries in the New York Primaries
While Emanuel was warning them, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani was busy proving him right.
Last week, Mamdani's full slate of socialist-backed congressional candidates swept New York primaries, defeating three Democrat incumbents – including five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the first Dominican-American elected to Congress and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Espaillat had the endorsement of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
It didn't matter.
Mamdani's three picks – Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez, and Brad Lander – defeated Jeffries' pick in every single race.
When Jeffries appeared on television at Valdez's victory party, the crowd booed him off the screen and chanted, "You're next."
The Three Socialists Headed to Congress in 2027
Avila Chevalier – a self-described socialist headed to represent Upper Manhattan – called America "a f—ing disgrace" in social media posts she later deleted.
In another deleted post, she wiped her hand on an American flag.
Abolishing police and prisons entirely is her stated position.
ICE, in her telling, "kidnaps" American citizens.
Valdez – an ICE abolition activist who won Brooklyn's 7th district – wants to eliminate the agency outright, calling it a "fascist" organization.
Lander – a former DSA member who won New York's 10th district – called for defunding the NYPD, pushed anti-white rhetoric, and left the Democratic Socialists of America only after their response to the October 7 Hamas attack became too radical to defend.
Bill Maher – hardly a Trump ally – accepted the Mark Twain Prize and told reporters the Democrats are now "well on their way" to blowing the midterms.
Hakeem Jeffries Lost Every Race and Then Pretended It Didn't Happen
Rep. Mike Lawler of New York said that the Democrat Party has officially become the party of Zohran, AOC, and Bernie.
Jeffries' response was to tell reporters that a handful of primaries in one state aren't going to reshape the Democrat Party.
Senator John Fetterman disagreed.
"The dirtbag left is surging," Fetterman told CNN.
At least a dozen DSA-backed candidates won New York primaries, and socialist candidates are claiming victories in Maine and Los Angeles as well.
Thirteen House Democrats – led by Reps. Tom Suozzi and Adam Gray – signed a "Promise to America" pledge declaring themselves capitalists and calling for secure borders.
Thirteen out of hundreds.
What the Democrat Socialist Takeover Means for the 2026 Midterms
Emanuel's strategy was to win swing districts by running candidates who don't send suburban voters fleeing.
Mamdani's candidates openly call America a disgrace and are betting the base turns out regardless.
Avila Chevalier's deleted posts will run in every Republican ad in every swing district in the country.
Trump wasted no time calling all three "solid Communists."
Emanuel spent eighteen months traveling the country telling Democrats this exact outcome was coming.
The party that helped elect Barack Obama twice is now playing second fiddle to Mayor Zohran Mamdani – and the old guard doesn't have the votes to stop it.
Sources:
- Matt Vespa, "Obama's Top Aide Trotted Out This Gentle Reminder to Dems. They Won't Like It," Townhall, June 26, 2026.
- "Mamdani-Backed Socialist Candidates Sweep NYC Democratic Primaries," Fox News, June 24, 2026.
- "Mamdani's Socialist Slate Defeats Jeffries' Picks in NYC Primaries," Fox News, June 24, 2026.
- "Bill Maher Warns Democrats Risk Blowing Midterms Over NY Socialists," Fox News, June 29, 2026.
- Thomas G. Del Beccaro, "Leftist Democrats Are Being Thrown Under the Bus, and Socialists Are in the Driver's Seat," Fox News, June 27, 2026.
- "13 Moderate Democrats Reject Socialism on New 'Promise to America' Pledge," Fox News, June 26, 2026.
- Mike LaChance, "Rahm Emanuel Actually Makes a Good Point About the DSA Victories in NYC This Week," Gateway Pundit, June 27, 2026.
- "'Party of Zohran': Mamdani Emerges as Democratic Kingmaker After Socialist Allies Sweep NYC Primaries," Fox News, June 24, 2026.